Disinformation wars; Russia, WikiLeaks and the British far left; 500,000 routers hacked, and more

Recruiting intelligence sources: President Trump makes a hard job harder (John Sipher, Lawfare) Recruiting intelligence sources is hard at the best of times. And President Trump just made it harder. Observers have rightly criticized the recent efforts of both President Trump and House intelligence chairman Devin Nunes to uncover an FBI source as a blatant, cynical endeavor to derail Robert Mueller’s investigation by translating the normal functioning of governing into something sinister. By using confusing and charged language, Trump seems to believe he can build on his false narrative that there is a deep state—an internal enemy out to get him. Previously, the president crafted that narrative with the similarly unfounded charges that he was wiretapped and his aides were “unmasked” were similar subterfuge. These tactics risk damage to a variety of political and legal norms. They also harm the ability of U.S. intelligence, diplomatic and law enforcement to do their jobs.  And this latest instance is particularly dire. The damage from this way of doing business will be broad, and we should add to that list the serious damage to our intelligence process. We may never know what sources will not confide in U.S. intelligence officers due to this contrived faux-scandal. Foreign policy is about credibility, and the United States is throwing its away.

Did the FBI save Trump’s presidency? (Bret Stephens, New York Times)
There has always been a relatively innocent and eminently plausible interpretation for why Donald Trump’s presidential campaign had so many suspicious ties to Russia – which might make for a compelling case that there’s not much to L’Affaire Russe, as the president never tires of averring. Or it might not. That’s what we have Robert Mueller for: To lay the question to rest, if only the president and his congressional muppets will let him. And all these suspicious ties were noticed independently of – and before — Christopher Steele’s notorious Russia dossier. Some pundits on the right are now breathlessly trying to claim that the bureau was spying on Page, and thus the campaign, via an informant before the formal investigation began, as if this is an outrage of the first order. But the significant question is whether any competent counterintelligence officer would not have seen, in this constellation of facts, serious reason to believe that the Trump campaign was profoundly vulnerable to Russian manipulation, even (or especially) if the candidate himself didn’t know about it. Just imagine if Manafort or Flynn hadn’t had their Russia ties exposed and now occupied positions of trust in the White House. The Kremlin would surely know how to leverage their secrets. Trump is now taking his usual unbridled umbrage at comments by former National Intelligence Director James Clapper, which the president then misquoted, that he should be glad the F.B.I. was looking into potential Russian infiltration of his campaign. Of course he should be glad: The Bureau has now twice rescued him, first by reopening the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails on the eve of the election, and then by clearing out the Russian stooges in his employ. That Trump won’t acknowledge this means he’s either profoundly foolish or, in ways we don’t yet understand, dangerously complicit. I still lean toward the former interpretation — just.

Moscow, escalating tensions with London, investigates British media (Andrew Osborn, Reuters)
Russia announced on Wednesday it had begun analyzing the output of British media working on its territory with a view to opening formal investigations into its objectivity, a response to what it called British attempts to curb Russian media.

France and Macron have buried allegations of Russian meddling (Adam Plowright, Washington Post)
Emmanuel Macron likes to talk tough to Vladimir Putin. “I do believe that we should never be weak with President Putin,” he said last month. At their first meeting as leaders a year ago in France, Macron was steely and outspoken, warning the Russian president about state propaganda and even human rights abuses in Chechnya. It was a key image-making moment for the 40-year-old liberal who wanted to show he wouldn’t be pushed around. But despite Macron’s strident tone in public, France has failed to address an issue that is of concern to all Western democracies: Alleged Russian interference in its presidential election last year. Twelve months on, claims that the Kremlin tried to influence the outcome of the vote have not been investigated publicly. The country has moved on — too quickly.

Sajjad Karim warns against Russian interference in 2019 European elections (Martin Banks, The Parliament)
UK MEP Sajjad Karim has warned that next year’s European elections are “at risk of Russian meddling” unless action is taken.

Malaysian Flight MH17 shot down by Russian army missile say Dutch investigators (Coda Story)
A Dutch-led criminal investigation has concluded that the Buk missile that brought down Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014 was provided by an official Russian military anti-aircraft unit. All 298 passengers and crew died when the plane was hit by the missile and exploded mid-air while at cruising altitude, and compelling evidence soon emerged pointing to Russian involvement.

Cisco warns 500,000 routers have been hacked in suspected Russian plan to attack Ukraine (CNBC)
Cisco on Wednesday warned that hackers have infected at least 500,000 routers and storage devices in dozens of countries with highly sophisticated malicious software, possibly in preparation for another massive cyber attack on Ukraine.

Facebook, Twitter roll out new tools to fight online manipulation (Tony Romm, Brisbane Times)
Facebook and Twitter forged ahead on Thursday with new efforts to disclose more information about the political advertisements that appear on their sites, part of a broad campaign to help users better understand why they see the content they do and who’s behind it.